A Hesitant Guide
by CheveronChick
Summary: Nàmo once again allows Yavanna to help him escort the souls of lost elves to his Halls of Mandos. But this time, she's stalling.


**Tiny crash course: **

**Nàmo = 'Mandos' real name, basically the god of death **

**Yavanna = Goddess of everything that grows pretty much. **

**My computer with have a stroke if I use all special character all the time so ️ ️**

**0.00.0.**

Namo felt that he had once more gained his sister's attention, no doubt her tree's had reacted to him lingering in spirit once more amongst their forest. There to take the souls of their friends once again. The children of Yavanna had come to loath his presence the same as the children of Eru.

He had come to regret how often he was forced to come to this forest as much as the living creatures he was sent to collect that dwelled and suffered within it.

But he was not heartbroken by it the same way Yavanna had come to be; his poor sister.

At least it brought him comfort that once they came with him to the Halls their souls would be troubled no more, and their bodies no longer slowly eaten away. Yavanna was troubled by the pain they left behind.

Namo knew very well who he was here to collect, but that did not mean he did not feel sympathy for how he found them. Such lighted hearted creatures were never meant to suffer such hate-fueled atrocities. The poor things.

Out of spite and with a simple breath, he blew the souls out of all the creatures of darkness who had lingered to feast or otherwise desecrate the fallen and sent them to the void.

Their bodies thunked solidly around him. It was not enough, he was still troubled. With a clenching of his fist, he turned them to ash. It was only then he set to his work.

Yavanna appeared just as he was about to invite the first soul through the doors. Namo was not surprised by this; not only because he knew his sister well but because she had done this near countless times before. And he had allowed it every time.

She knelt next to the first fallen elf, his throat and face missing and devoured by some twisted creature recently obliterated from existence. With a gentle touch, she awakened the soul trapped inside.

Gently, she guided him through the doors. Whispering words of comfort and thanks along the way. Then she came out for the next one.

They were always far more comforted with Yavanna's presence than his, and so for the near countless time, Namo stood by and let her do the work that would ease her heart and all of the fallen children's souls.

Usually, Yavanna was swift with the task, but today she was stalling. Namo was not surprised by this either, he knew exactly which soul she was reluctant to take. Who's heart she worried to break over the shell that would be left behind, while the soul healed in Valinor.

Namo had seen this particular elf many times and knew of her importance to the one called Prince to the children of Eru who protected this particular forest. The one his sister had come to grow an uncharacteristic fondness of.

Yavanna hoped that if she took her time enough, other elves of full health would be able to arrive, and so convening him to turn his head and let the child's body keep her soul would be easier.

So while his sister took her time, Namo walked over to the soul that had come to be known as Avaleina. He remembered seeing her as a very young elfing, on the day Marion turned Sauron had burnt the forest and the creatures that lived within it.

Technically, he should have invited her to the Halls then. Saved her from this life of pain and suffering. But the pity in his heart had aligned differently that day, and he had swept away instead.

At his feet, the gravely injured elf struggled to breathe, while trembling hands tried valiantly to keep the pressure on a wound. The voice of her soul was weak and her teeth were gritted with pain, but Namo knew of Avaleina's sincerity, "No. Go away. I'm not done yet."

"You have said that to me before, child."

"I meant it then, too."

He could feel his sister's approach, her sadness disheartening the forest for miles around. She came to kneel at Avaleina's side and placed a comforting hand on her forehead. Namo likewise knelt so that he would not tower over her, "Come with me and be free of this pain, be free of all pain."

"Doesn't bother me."

He continued gently, "Come and rest, dear child"

"I'm not tired."

But even as she argued, he could feel her grasp on wakefulness slipping away, and soon the hands-on her wound went slack. But Yavanna had done her calculations correctly, and help arrived.

They began searching amongst the bodies that were now shells, their souls safe in the Halls of Mandos. Yavanna had not moved, her hand still resting on the child's forehead but now she was staring up at him with an expression that verged on pleading.

Namo was not surprised by this; not only because he knew his sister well but because she had done this a few times before. He stood and backed away slightly so that the other creatures would not feel him literally hanging over her.

A soul who he knew had come to be named Legolas crashed to the side of Avaleina that Yavanna was not on, as if he felt her presence. Perhaps he did, she had always bent the rules for the children of her forest.

Immediately he set to work on binding the wound, while he frantically managed to call out around developing sobs, "Ferdan!"

Another elf joined them on the leaves. "Ava, it's okay, we're here now. It's okay, sweet girl. It's going to be okay."

Namo watched as the administered an antivenom with shaking hands, he pointedly did not look at Yavanna. Who was certainly still staring at him imploringly.

"You can't go," Legolas whispered, moving so that Avaleina's head was resting in his lap and not in her own blood, "Please don't go. Please don't leave me. Please don't take her. Please, please, you can't take her. I can't do this without her. You can't"

Ferdan was not saying it out loud, but Namo could feel his soul making just as desperate pleas while he continued his work on Avaleina's broken body with deft hands.

He should have invited her soul away from the pain minutes ago. Avaleina should have already been at peace with her family and this shell left empty by the time they arrived.

He should take her now. Ignore their pleas and their sadness and do his job. Protect this poor creature. He should let this body turn cold even as it was cradled so desperately in the arms of the one who loved her so completely.

He was going to do it.

But then Yavanna said, "Brother, please?"

And her voice was sad enough that flowers wilted to hear it, green leaves turning red and yellow with heartbreak at the sight of her tears.

Namo sighed because he too was deeply affected by his sister's mood, he loathed seeing the one usually so carefree buried under such weight. Then he made the mistake of looking at her face, and without a word, he turned and left the forest.

His sister did not always get her way, but sometimes she did.


End file.
